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When a game gets as much praise as our 2006 PC Game of the Year, it can't be easy to decide what to do for an encore. Company of Heroes was a revelation when it first released. Not only did it actually make World War II (a badly overused videogame setting) fun again, its strategic depth, elegance and simplicity raised the bar so high for RTS developers it would be tough for anyone to clear it -- even Relic. That's Opposing Fronts in a nutshell. The expansion pack adds more armies and deeper strategy to Company of Heroes which, almost by default, can't help but be a good thing. If only the new depth and the fun new stuff to play with didn't come at the cost of the elegance and simplicity of the original game.

Two new armies are at the heart of Opposing Fronts. First, the defensively-oriented British 2nd Army is built around tough infantry and insanely big guns. Infantry and sapper units are able to quickly build a wide variety of defensive emplacements ranging from machine-gun pillboxes to 25-pound artillery guns to the thoroughly amazing slit trenches which provide a huge defensive advantage. Lieutenant and Captain units attach themselves to infantry companies and offer great defensive bonuses that travel with them as the company moves. They also sport some of the best artillery units in the game, able to reach across entire maps to rain death and destruction down on enemy forces without ever needing to put their precious Tommies in danger.

The stick-and-move Panzer Elite are completely different. They're the army that's never where you expect it to be. While not nearly as tough as the original German or American squads (to say nothing of the Brits), their strategic flexibility and outrageous speed can help them seize map sectors while their opponents are still sorting through their first veterancy upgrades. Their versatile infantry halftracks are at the heart of their strategy since infantry loaded onto the halftrack can shoot out of it. That allows halftracks to be specially kitted based on the type of infantry that climb aboard. Anti-tank troops on a half-track, for example, make it a pretty decent anti-tank vehicle, while one loaded with infantry upgraded with long-range rifles becomes impromptu anti-infantry snipers. They can also be used to capture map sectors simply by loading and unloading their passengers. Other types of vehicles include supply wagons that can drop remote-controlled "Goliath" bombs and a Jagdpanzer tank-killer that's frankly pretty terrifying.

Both armies are a lot of fun and significantly deepen the strategic options available to the player. The British penchant for defense might bring up notions of cheesy "turtle" strategies in which a player would build impregnable barriers until they can overwhelm the opposition with numbers. Such a comment fails to take into account the skill of Relic's designers. In Opposing Fronts, Brits use their defensive might offensively. British players will slowly progress across the battlefield in a "take-and-hold" style using artillery to clear the way and infantry advances to secure the territory. The Panzer Elite, on the other hand, will find themselves scurrying around to everywhere their enemy isn't, using zippy little scout vehicles and seizing and losing territory a lot. Their ultimate goal is to build up the veterancy of their forces until they can bring out the heavy gear like upgraded Panther tanks or tough little Hetzers and grind the opposition under their treads.

Players will first get down and dirty with the new armies in the two single-player campaigns, one for each army. This marks a nice change from the original game, which only allowed the player to play as the Americans. The first campaign re-visits Operation Market Garden from the perspective of the Panzer Elite. This disastrous Allied push for Germany through occupied Holland is detailed through the experiences of two German brothers, each a commander in the mishmash of German forces that delivered a devastating blow to the largest airborne invasion in history. The second campaign covers the British Army's post-D-Day experience as they push through the French countryside on the way to the liberation of Caen.